Background

The Center for Community Services is a relatively large, rapidly growing, ethnically diverse, mixed-income area that consists of suburbs, small towns and rural areas. Approximately 125,000 people currently live in 22 census tracts in the Golden Strip area, with the population expected to increase by another 25,000 in the next decade.

History

In 1992, a United Way budget panel asked the Community Planning Council to conduct a study of services available in the cities of Fountain Inn, Mauldin, and Simpsonville. The Council found that while some families traveled to the cities of Greenville or Laurens to obtain the help they needed, many others simply went without family support services. Because many families have multiple needs and transportation is often an issue, the study recommended that a multi-service center be developed and located in the Golden Strip area to make health and human services more accessible. A list of agencies was assembled that were willing to participate and the services were further developed to interact together. How great would it be if many needs could be addressed closer to where families lived?

 Community volunteers, after working for several years to make this recommendation a reality, realized their goal in 1997 with the opening of the 4-building ‘Golden Strip Human Resource Center’.

Present

Our name has since changed to The Center for Community Services and now occupies the entire campus of the old Bryson Elementary School. Through our agency partners located on our campus we provide opportunities for people to improve their lives through better access to healthcare, temporary assistance, parenting activities, and adult education. Although we provide a central location where human service agencies can work together to better meet the needs of families, our goal is to connect families to services that are offered closer in proximity to where they work and live.

As the United Way impact study indicated, the need for health and human services is significant. Never did we dream that the need for support was so great. Each year we serve many, many more people and add additional types of services to meet their needs. One of the newest services being offered is through our Cafe Cultura Center which provides programming to meet the needs of area Latino families with young children.

Future

As we continue to increase the number of people served, we will add additional agencies in order to provide the services that are in demand. For example:

• Companies located within the Golden Strip have suggested that we offer Spanish Language Classes in order to help remove barriers of communication for managers, owners, and fellow workers.
• We also have local companies coming to us to help fill employment needs through referrals. We are examining the development of a Career Center to be located on our Campus to help those out of work, improve their lives by learning skills that will help them acquire new jobs.

Why do we need The Center for Community Services?

• When a family loses everything in a fire, they can come to us for support.
• When a person becomes unemployed, he/she can come to us for support.
• The Center for Community Services and Strong Communities seeks to prevent child abuse and neglect by involving citizens in supporting families before abuse or neglect occurs, rather than just reporting it after the fact. We will provide access to human service agencies that make important contributions to families in need.
• When a new parent needs help to provide care for their baby, we provide instruction and support.
• When a person has a chronic health problem and minimal income; we can be their medical home.
• When a person with a seventh grade education loses their job, he/she can come to us to complete their GED in a supportive environment.
• When a 4-year old is excited about learning and a parent wants to be involved, we can provide an excellent opportunity for the child and parent to learn.
• When an employer has openings that they cannot fill, they can come to us for referrals.
• We remove the barriers of communication for the international community. Area demographics are changing, which affects the community employment base. We will continue to build an economic base of workers in this area.